The present invention relates generally to an article of footwear for infants and, in particular, to an article of footwear designed to better protect the entire toe region of an infant walking on both indoor and outdoor surfaces.
Infants need protection for their feet as they begin to learn to walk. This is especially the case for the more fragile areas of infants' feet, particularly their toes, as infants transition to walking from crawling, where they are more accustomed to applying pressure to their toes, and in different ways. As infants progress further to walking on outdoor terrain, it is desirable for infants to wear footwear that can be worn on both indoor and outdoor surfaces, and which provides the necessary stability and traction for such purposes.
There is a variety of infant sock and footwear present in the prior art. Such prior art generally fits into two categories: first, socks or other soft footwear primarily intended to be worn indoors by crawling infants, and second, more rigid outdoor footwear.
Infant socks or soft footwear in the prior art provide virtually no protection for an infant's toes, often only covering such areas with a soft sock material or the relatively soft upper portion of a shoe. They are also primarily designed for crawling infants, and, as a result, lack the necessary sole or other structure to enable infants to walk on outdoor surfaces with sufficient traction and protection. The infant socks or soft footwear in the prior art, therefore, invariably need to be replaced or covered with outdoor footwear as they are unsuitable for walking on outdoor surfaces without utilizing some variety of outer footwear. Infant outdoor footwear designs, by the same token, often also provide little protection for an infant's toes, and are also unsuitable for walking on indoor surfaces because they are either overly rigid or are damaging to, or leave behind undesired scrape residues on, more delicate indoor surfaces. Infant footwear often therefore needs to be removed when an infant walks indoors. In short, neither type of design sufficiently protects an infant's toes, nor are they capable of being utilized independently of the other as infants transition between indoor and outdoor environments.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,779 is an infant sock employing a rubber gripper member on the underside and around the front of the design. The objective of this design is to provide crawling infants with greater friction between their feet and indoor flooring. The referenced prior art provides no significant protection for the infants' toes, is not suitably designed for walking infants, and is impractical for infants walking on outdoor surfaces.
Although in general, the contributions of the prior art to infants' footwear needs has been satisfactory, the prior art has been found to not sufficiently protect the toes of walking infants or be practical for walking on both indoor and outdoor surfaces. It is therefore desirable to provide an article of infant footwear that better protects an infant's entire toe region, and which is specifically targeted towards walking infants, for walking on both indoor and outdoor surfaces.